In the Vampire Hunter D novels Cesare is actually a term used to describe one particular type of servant of the Nobility - a human who has been given the "kiss" of the Noble without having all their blood drained away, resulting in a servant who utterly lack free will, reminiscent the ghouls of some other vampire stories, and naturally looks like the Trope Namer.

Kiichiro Numabuchi from Detective Conan is a Serial Killer who fits in so well that, when he escaped from custody and the police were searching for him, he was physically described by Ai Haibara in terms that would perfectly fit Cesare himself.

Several cases have at least a murder suspect looking like this and acting like a snarky Jerk Ass. Atsushi Moori, the snarky reporter from the Ski Lodge Case, is a pretty good example too; his "case" is really not helped by how he gleefully describes a massacre that happened in the same lodge the group is staying in, and how he seems to enjoy the terror on other's faces when he mentions it. But he was not the killer, either in the past or the present, in quite the example of how suspects like this are more often than not Red Herrings.

Junya Tokitsu, a highschool-aged Amateur Sleuth, used to have the Cesare looks in the past. More exactly, in the flashbacks about his intervention in a case that would lead to the suicide of an innocent girl unfairly accused of murder after he stepped in. She also happened to be the best friend of another sleuth... who confronted and then killed him.

Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple: Kii Kagerou. Unusually pale skin, scraggly hair, and wears all black. He seems to miss out on the sunken eyes mostly because his face is so flat. If anything it makes him even more unnerving.

The original example is, of course, Cesare, Conrad Veidt's Brainwashed and Crazy sleepwalker character from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, a silent film made in 1919 Germany. Interestingly enough, he is specifically stated in the shooting script to be wearing makeup in-story to achieve the effect. However, it should be noted that the archetype of a skinny, pale-skinned, ill-looking character all dressed in black can be found already in romantic literature of the 19th century (generally as a ghost or a Living Memory).

In Phantom of the Paradise, Swan's malleable musical minions in their guise as proto-Goth Alice Cooperalikes 'The Undeads' are dressed in glitter-rock versions of Cesare's outfit, with diamantés added to the all black tights+tunic ensemble. The lead in particular has almost identical makeup to Conrad Veidt's, and the stage is decked out in the style of the sets from Dr. Caligari.

Even Lydia Deetz of Beetlejuice has a touch of this trope. She's an Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette to start with, her hair is worn in a peculiar updo that defies gravity and frizzes out all over the place, and her eyes are a bit sunken. That last part is particularly noticeable when she's wearing her big black hat. In the cartoon, though, she just wears a lot of eye makeup.

The Joker was based upon the silent film version of The Man Who Laughs. The actor portraying title character in that movie also played Cesare. So, it's hardly coincidence that the Joker is often given Cesare's dark, sunken-in eyelids.

It probably has even more to do with the fact that they aimed for maximum contrasts in the old-style silent films; even completely ordinary people in those movies tend to look like Cesare from the modern perspective.

So how would the actor portraying The Joker in the 1966 Batman series fit in? His name was Cesar Romero...

There was once an episode of Gilligan's Island that lampshaded the odd appearance of silent-movie makeup. The gang find an old trunk containing a movie camera and some old-style costumes, and decide to make some silent films with Thurston Howell III as director. We see the characters performing on a silent screen in black and white....but then we see them in color, and their makeup really stands out. They all look pale, effeminate, and kind of plastic, like mannequins.

Dead Presidents, Allen and Albert Hughes's follow-up film to Menace II Society, was notorious for a lengthy sequence in which an embittered Vietnam vet and a couple of his friends rob a federal reserve bank in New York while sporting frightening corpse paint. Freddy Rodriguez's face paint is particularly creepy; the fact that he cackles madly after blowing up a bank truck certainly doesn't help.

Otto from Otto; Or Up with Dead People looks like this, although his hairstyle is rather sleek instead of shaggy, he has the black hair, pale-white skin, dark rings under his eyes and black clothing to pull the look off.

The Other Mother from Coraline starts off looking like Coraline's real mother (except for the lack of a neck brace and having black buttons for eyes). Over the course of the film however, her features become more and more exaggerated. She switches from her real world counterpart's sweater and pants to a black and white-dotted dress, red collar and red shoes. When Coraline starts to defy her, the Other Mother shifts to a less human form, becoming taller and more skeletal. In the film's climax, her true form is shown with a mechanical/spider-like appearance with white, cracked-porcelain skin and hands made of sewing needles.

The Enchantress from Suicide Squad, at least until she regains her stolen heart and reclaims her true power.

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Mary Shelley probably intended the monster in Frankenstein to look a good deal this way; she describes him with pale skin, blank eyes, dark flowing hair, and "straight black lips." Since The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari was at least in part inspired by Frankenstein, that film was arguably the first faithful adaptation of Shelley's vision.

In Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell: The Raven King. In the miniseries, where Strange has dark hair (instead of auburn), he looks like this after Arabella dies, and he summons the Pillar of Darkness.

Harry Dresden gets to looking like this around the beginning of Book 4 (Summer Knight) — he's around 6'8", very thin (as he has no money for food), has actually lost time due to being in his lightless lab for months, and his hair (very dark brown, as are his eyes) has not only grown out for several months, but is burned off in patches, producing a look that he himself terms "time to take Rover to the groomer."

Roderick Usher in Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" has developed deep-set eyes and a generally gaunt appearance due to a strange malady that is never named. It's implied to be the terror of his inevitable death and/or complications from a lot of inbreeding in the family.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Nico Di Angelo fits this trope perfectly. Pale skin? Check. Messy black hair? Check. Described as creepy by other characters? Check. Wears black and is a massive Woobie? Yep. He may not be an exact reference to Cesare but he fits the description.

Sarah and Felix on Orphan Black look like this due to their eyeliner. Helena would look like this if she didn't dye her hair blond; you can still see the brown roots poking out.

Doctor Who has the Fourth, Seventh, and Eighth Doctors, although the extent of their pallor depends on the light. Also, in the episode "The Doctor's Wife," the TARDIS's spirit briefly possesses the body of a woman who looks like this. Hell, even Madame Kovarian (the Big Bad of series 6) and the current Master ("the Mistress") look like this.

Rainbow's video for the song "Can't Let You Go" is a homage to The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari with singer Joe Lynn Turner as Cesare.

Fleetwood Mac: Mick Fleetwood occasionally looks this way, especially when making horrifying, lustful faces at Stevie Nicks on the inside sleeve of Rumours. He certainly has the deeply hollowed eyes down.

Pro Wrestling

Legendary wrestlerSting based his current look on The Crow. He's a bit more tan and toned than most, though, which means the white facepaint and black clothing make him look more like the world's most badass mime than Cesare.

Speaking of which, The Undertaker himself is sometimes an example, especially in his early days. The effect is somewhat different when the Cesare is nearly 7 feet tall.

Vampiro, WCW's "vampire" wrestler.

Tatankavery briefly donned whiteface and black lipstick and eyeshadow late in 2006 after he suffered an emotional meltdown after losing too many matches and announced that his degradation had awakened a "vengeful spirit" that would avenge the Native American people.

Yume Nikki. Seccom Masada-sensei, or "Space Piano Man" or "That Guy With The 6_9 Eyes." Kinda hard to tell though, as he is very pixelly.

Uboa also qualifies, even though he's arguably just a head.

Frantz from Rusty Hearts has neater hair than the norm, but otherwise fits the criteria.

Any male hero in Fable II with Evil and Pure alignments will acquire this look.

The Usher twins, Madeleine and Roderick (especially Roderick), in Dark Tales: Edgar Allen Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher.

Simon Blackquill from Ace Attorney, probably due to his time in prison.

The Dras◊ in Chronicles Of Elyria are a tribe that look like Cesare as a whole. Tall, thin, and lanky with stringy black hair and sunken eyes. They're perfectly nice, if somewhat isolationist, people, though.

Web Comics

The ghost lad from chapter 16 of Gunnerkrigg Court. It's possible this is how he looked in life, as well.

Zimmy probably counts too, since she has a tangly mess of black hair and eyes that look like black holes. (Not the astronomical kind.) On the rare occasions when we do get to see her eyes, they're a bit sunken. The one point of doubt comes from the fact that she has weird ashy greyish skin instead of being pale.

If Zimmy counts, then Jack definitely does—at least during the time that he's possessed by the Whitelegs.

Dongtae from Dice The Cube That Changes Everything is a scrawny seventeen year old with a somewhat hunched back, dark circles under his eyes, and black hair (though most characters share the last trait). He's severely bullied by other kids and always seems to have the worst luck.

Web Original

Sara from the Whateley Universe. She's described as "Gothy", but it's her actual skin colouration, and it looks exactly like this.

Jeff the Killer from Creepypasta lore. While he doesn't wear all black, he has the scraggly black hair, blanched skin, and dark sunken eyes. Also like Cesare, Jeff even stabs people to death as they sleep!

This is often the appearance of those who experience prolonged exposure to the Slender Man, either from basic run-of-the-mill insomnia or from "Slendersickness".

Parodied with What's Her Face's sickly bunkmate in Teen Girl Squad, who is literally a raccoon.

Western Animation

Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender looks like this when he's sleep-deprived during the episode "Nightmares and Daydreams," as does Princess Azula after herVillainous Breakdown. Hell, even Azula's daddy Ozai looks like this after being stripped of his powers.

Real Life

Corpse paint. It's unclear exactly when the tradition started (KISS often gets the credit, even though what they wear isn't really corpse paint), but by the 1980s it had become a signature look for many extreme rock bands, especially Scandinavian ones. It looks a good deal like Cesare's makeup, although many black-metal enthusiasts will tell you that it's actually inspired by Germanic mythology.

Community

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